Council houses across Newcastle are to get a £107m makeover, ministers revealed today. The cash will be used by Your Homes Newcastle to extend the prog ramme of major improvements to the city's 32,000 council properties.

It's the second allocation of cash since the management of the city's council houses was handed over to Your Homes Newcastle, an arm's length organisation which includes tenants' representatives, in April 2004.

The six-year revamp programme, costing a total of £348m, aims to bring all Newcastle's council properties up to the Government's decent homes standard and is the biggest of its kind in the city.

Improvements can include wiring, windows, doors, kitchens, bathrooms, heating and insulation. Homes are surveyed to assess what needs to be done.

Work got under way after Your Homes Newcastle received a two-star rating from Audit Commission inspectors, which released the first stage of money totalling £64m.

The Government has now announced that Newcastle is to receive another £107m over two years, part of a national allocation of £538m to arm's length management organisations (ALMOs) in 10 areas.

Officials were unable to say immediately exactly how the money will be spent or which estates will benefit.

Housing Minister Yvette Cooper said the organisations have made an excellent start.

"Tenants are clearly benefiting from improvements to their homes, from a dedicated day-to-day landlord service and more control over the future of their homes thanks to one third representation on the board," she said.

"These ALMOs are doing an important job making more than 190,000 homes warm, weatherproof and more modern.

"Above all, the funding will enable them to continue this work, in line with the Government's decent homes programme."

Under the Government's programme, around 3,000 homes a month across the country are being brought up to the decent homes standard.

John Lee, chief executive of Your Homes Newcastle, said: "We are pleased to receive news of our funding allocation for the next two years, as we have been awaiting this announcement for some time.

"We are now examining the detail to understand exactly what this will mean for Your Homes Newcastle and our tenants.

"We will then be in a position to explain the impact it will have on our programme to bring all council homes in the city up to decent homes standard."

When work began eight out of 10 city council homes did not meet the standard.

In the first year, 880 homes have been refurbished and now meet the standard while 3,339 have had either internal or an external work done.

Total investment in housing in Newcastle is expected to be around £600m when other money, such as the Bridging NewcastleGateshead Pathfinder housing renewal scheme, is added.